Silent Hill is a 1999 survival horror video game for the PlayStation. The first in a series about a mysterious town of the same name, Silent Hill generated a direct sequel, three indirect sequels, a prequel and a film adaptation. The game was included in Sony's Greatest Hits and Platinum Range of budget titles as a result of strong sales. A reinterpretation of the game was developed for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.
The plot focuses on Harry Mason as he searches for his daughter, Cheryl, who has disappeared following a car accident which left Harry unconscious. He finds Silent Hill to be largely abandoned, shrouded in a thick fog, snowing out of season, filled with monsters and being over taken by a hellish otherworld. As Harry scours the town, he begins learning about the history of Silent Hill and stumbles upon a cult ritual undertaken to bring a god to Earth.
I finally got around to playing this game. I have vivid images of watching the trailer prior to its original release but it's taken me a while to explore it first-hand. Finishing it in a couple of sittings, I liked the story, it's pretty simple but works. The game plays well with the combat system working fine, and again it's fairly simple with no aiming available. The puzzles will make you think and are all different from each other.
The problems I felt with this was the draw distance on occasions. It gets away with it most of the time due to much of the game being indoors and due to the snow and fog outside though. I don't know if it was because I played it on easy difficulty or not, but the bosses are fairly lacklustre as well. Some of the backtracking, that I tend to hate in games, and that are common in games like this where keys/items need to be found to open doors got frustrating, not to mention running around outside into dead end after dead end. While it has a disturbing atmosphere, there are no moments of fright either, but I don't think the developers were really attempting to do that to be fair. It has its flaws that are no doubt more noticeable playing it 16 years later but it's still well worth playing this landmark title.
Gameplay 4/5
Graphics 4/5
Sound 4/5
Difficulty 4.5/5
Originality 4.5/5
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